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Percent of Land Coverage Within Land Capability Class 1b (allow up to 1% impervious coverage)

Lands classified as 1b are among the most sensitive in the Tahoe Region and can support the least amount of land disturbance. The percent of land coverage within land capability class 1b indicator measures the percent of land coverage on class 1b lands in the Tahoe Region. The indicator allows up to one percent impervious coverage within land capability class 1b. Land capability class 1b is environmentally sensitive land and includes low-lying stream environment zones (SEZ), stream channels, marshes, floodplains, meadows, and other areas with surface or groundwater. class 1b lands are critical for natural water filtration, storage, and conveyance of surface runoff. Encroachment on these areas reduces their potential to filter sediment and nutrients and the amount of surface runoff they can effectively treat. Naturally functioning SEZs also provide open space, flood flow capacity, riparian vegetation, fish and wildlife habitat, and buffer urban uses in developed areas. Since the adoption of the 1987 Regional Plan, new coverage or even temporary disturbance in class 1b has been prohibited. The updated 2012 Regional Plan carried forward all protection for class 1b (SEZ) lands. 

Status

Percent cover in each Bailey land capability class relative to the allowable coverage in class.

Evaluation Map

Land capability Class 1b lands and impervious surfaces within the Tahoe Region.

2019 Evaluation

Status
Considerably Worse Than Target
Trend
Little or No Change
Confidence
Moderate
View Evaluation

Applicable Standard

SC2: Impervious cover shall comply with the "Land Capability Classification of the Lake Tahoe Basin, California-Nevada, A Guide for Planning", Bailey, 1974. Allowable percent of impervious cover in Land Capability subclass 1b - 1%.

Key Points

  • The Region is nearing attainment of the stream environment zone (SEZ) restoration target established in 1982 with construction underway for the restoration of more than 500 acres of the Upper Truckee Marsh.

  • The outlook for the Region’s SEZs is significantly brighter today than when the standard was adopted. Development forecasts when the standard was adopted predicted further SEZ loss, between 1,550 and 1,770 additional acres by 1995, without regulation. That did not occur. The USDA Forest Service and the California Tahoe Conservancy acquired and protected over 900 acres of SEZ, and permit conditions and development restrictions prevent any new degradation of non-protected SEZs.

  • To date, projects have restored 1,057 acres of SEZ. Accounting totals historically omitted USDA Forest Service projects completed in the 1980s. When 680 acres of SEZ restoration completed by the Forest Service between 1984 to 1987 is added, partners have restored 1,604 acres of SEZ and restored/acquired nearly 2,500 acres.

  • Despite the 1987 Regional Plan prohibiting all further disturbance of class 1b land, progress toward attainment of the impervious cover standard for class 1b remains challenging. Attainment would require the removal and/or relocation of 659 acres of impervious cover, roughly 8.3 percent of all impervious cover in the Region. It would also likely require the removal and buyout of large portions of existing private development. Removal or relocation of this magnitude may be infeasible in a reasonable timeframe.

Delivering and Measuring Success

EIP Action Priorities

EIP Indicators

  • Impervious Coverage Retired

    Between 2016 and 2019, EIP partners and private partners through projects retired (i.e., permanently remove from future use) 41,546 square feet (0.95 acres) of Class 1b coverage.

Example EIP Projects